Biking Connecticut from New Haven to Massachusetts — the state’s trails are tops

This past weekend I biked Connecticut from south to north, from New Haven across the state line to Southwick, Mass., as I took part in the East Coast Greenway‘s Ride the State ride.

I’ve ridden parts of this before — in 2016 and in 2021. But this is the first time I’d ridden the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail all in one shot.

I was raving back in 2016, when the gaps were still sizeable. Now, with less than 5 miles to go before it’s a car-free ride across the state, I’m still raving.

Wide multi-use paths. Lots of shade. Businesses backing onto the trail for when you want a break. Cool murals and public art for more reasons to stop. The fill-in-the-blank “Before I Die” mural that I remember from 2021 is still there, just a bit faded. Buttons to hit at key road crossings to activate the flashing yellow lights. Courteous drivers.

I know, what’s not to like?

Plus I got to see many friends from the East Coast Greenway’s Week-A-Year bike rides down the entire 3,000 route from the Canadian border in Maine to Key West.

We were fortunate to have permission to ride on an almost-finished section in Southington/southern Plainville, part of the notorious Plainville Gap. Just some grading from the edge of the trail, some plantings and perhaps some fencing are left to do. It meant we no longer had to deal with either a hill or the traffic hell by the strip malls on Route 10.

Oh we still had a stretch of road, including a bit on Route 10 with an on-ramp to route 72 that feeds into I-84. But it was short and sane.

Plainville seems unconvinced by the virtues of a rail-trail in town … and maybe a certain billionaire railway owner is part of the reason.

One day….

This isn’t the only way the East Coast Greenway in Connecticut keeps getting better. The state is in the final stages of a project to upgrade the Moosup Valley State Park Trail in the eastern part of the state that would connect to a five-star trail in Rhode Island that leads to Providence. Will it be finished in September?

And the bridges and more on the Air Line Trail between Pomfret and Putnam that were being built when we were there in 2021 are long since done. That makes it a virtually car-free ride between Putnam and East Hartford (even if Google Maps can’t show it because the Air Line Trail isn’t paved).

Bonus: If you’re biking along the Connecticut shoreline west of New Haven (quiet roads that are part of the East Coast Greenway route) and reach the corner of Ocean and Seaview avenues, you’re only a couple of miles from the PEZ factory.

Remember that from childhood?